A Thousand Shades of Gray
by Derdra The Brave
Summary: There's Black, White and and thousand shades of Gray in between when it comes to people. At the end of the Avengers Loki and Thor go back with the Tessaract to Asgard; but something isn't right. Thanos plots to rule the universe and the Avengers must come together to stop him. Secrets are revealed back on Asgard, and Thor must do battle once again before time runs out!
1. Prologue

"You promised me revenge!" he screamed, the cords in his neck bulging with effort. The hooded figure merely smirked as he sat on the throne made from a meteor that had crashed on the desolate planet he had landed on after his fall from Asgard. The two Chitauri guards held Loki's arms as he fought forward towards Thanos on his seat.

"And I keep my promises." Thanos snickered darkly before rising and stepping forward to Loki and took the exiled god's chin in his hand, leaning down to whisper in his face.

"Little Godling, did you really thing I would let such an important thing like you leave and destroy yourself in the process. Your much too valuable to let slip away. I keep my promises, however you will personally not be going."

"Thanos you cannot do this, we had a deal! I would get the Tessaract on Earth and you would allow me my revenge on Thor, the Allfather and Asga-" Loki's vision caught movement against the shadow of rock near the throne; another figure stepped out from them and came forward into the light.

"Allow me to introduce my second in command" Thanos said as the figure stopped next to his left side, looking down on Loki. His eyes held no light, save that of malice and chaos churning inside, dark circles lay underneath them and his skin seemed nearly pallid in the pale light of the planet's moons. He smiled madly, an insane twist of his mouth.

"My God of Chaos, and leader of the Chitauri." Turning to the figure, Thanos' hand reached inside his robes and produced a scepter with a glowing blue at its heart before handing it to he man. The man, in turn, took the scepter and studied it for a moment.

"He is perfect isn't he? Where you were the raw untapped power before, he is the more perfect, refined, and complete version you should have been. All of your memories, emotions and ambitions lie within him as well. The hatred inside you that festers for your Brother and his love for the humans are now amplified a thousand fold. He lives only to see Earth destroyed and to bring me the Tessaract. He only lacks one last thing to make him completely you."

The man looked up from the scepter at Loki before pointing it at his chest. A burst of blue energy shot from its heart and into him. Pain radiated from his core and he thought he heard himself scream in agony, but not just pain. He could feel his powers being drained from him, like a spider sucking and insect dry until it was only a silken wrapped husk.

It stopped and he was powerless, all of his magic gone. He had fallen to his hands and knees, head bent and body crying out while the Chitauri guards stood behind him. In the light he saw that his skin had turned blue, revealing his true heritage to them all.

"Damned you" he spat. Suddenly Loki's body lifted into the air from the power the scepter emitted. A flash of blue light exploded and a moment later Loki imprisoned within a single giant crystal structure. The clone lowered the scepter.

"Power. I like the feeling of it."


	2. Chapter 1

"You will stand trial on the morrow traitor!" The Jailer hissed through the bared opening of his cell door. Loki, muzzled like a mutt and chained at his wrists, glared him down in the darkness. The jailer left him in the stinking cell, the sound of his boots fading down the corridor.

Finally.

Thor paced the great hall below the throne. Outside a storm began to boil on the horizon. If anything could be said about Thor it was that the weather always shifted with his mood.

"The Tessaract is safe, Midgard is safe, and yet now my brother is to stand trial for his crimes and I feel as if I was the one who fell from the Bifrost." His pace quickened and he agitated more and more until the golden throne room became as dark as his brooding mind and electricity fizzed around him.

"Thor."

He stopped and turned. "Father." The king entered the throne room, Gungnir in his hand.

"You are troubled over your brother."

"I'm afraid the punishment will not fit the crime" He said turning to look out over Asgard.

"To soft?"

"Nay. To hard."

"Thor his actions must not go unpunished. Not only did he conspire with Frostgiants and the Chitauri, he threatened to destroy Midgard and Jotunheim and nearly annihilated both!" Odin spoke angrily.

"But there is something else, Father. Something not right inside his mind, as if he were-" A disturbance from the entry way cut him off. A guard rushed in a moment later.

"Sire, it's Laufyson! He's escaped and heading to the vaults!" Both men rushed towards the location post haste, not daring to think of what would happen if he found the Tessaract.

Loki projected more magic at the wall of guards and watched with glee as they were swatted away like gnats. At last, he thought at the doors of the weapons vault stepping over bodies as they opened for him.

A twisting pain inside his brain made him seize up and stop just at the food of the stairs.

"_Do not go in there!" _

Snarling he blocked the voice out and continued on his way to the Tessaract. In front of him a blue box seemed to beckon him closer. This was not the Tessaract and yet he was compelled to pick it up by it's obsidian handles.

The Casket of Ancient Winters glowed, it's insides churned malevolently like a blizzard. Something inside him was flung back into a memory.

"_Stop!" _

"_Am I cursed?..."_

"_You're my son..."_

"_What more than that?..."_

"Loki do not touch the Casket!" Thor roared out to him. Loki, broken from his trance, turned still holding the casket in his hands. Both Odin and Thor were a mere few feet from him and could have over powered him in his trance. However both knew his magic was unpredictable during such things as well.

They seemed to realize that something was terribly off. His skin remained the same color even as his grip on the casket tightened subconsciously. Without warning, Odin used Gungnir and knocked him out; the casket clanked cold and solidly against the marble floor of the vault chipping at the stone while it alone remained unharmed.

"His skin did not change. He is not Loki." Odin said kneeling next to the limp form on the ground. Thor didn't move. Couldn't move.

Not Loki. Not his brother. They had been fighting an imposter the whole time on Midgard? Where was Loki?

"Thor...?" The figure whispered. Thor Rushed over and knelt next to him with Odin on the other side keeping vigil over his actions.

"Brother? Are you my brother?!" He asked.

"Not much time... Imprisoned... Thanos...Chitauri coming... Find me before they-!" He fell back and was gone again, the connection between Loki and the Imposter was gone


End file.
